The presence of a number of large enterprises in several key segments of the chemical industry
means that domestic competition hardly exists in them. There are a few major companies in the
country that not only dominate their respective local markets, but are important players on a
European scale. Not surprisingly, M&A transactions happen rarely in this industry, but once they do
they are usually massive. Such was the case with the consolidation of the chemical synthesis
segment into Grupa Azoty in 2012 and its subsequent defence against what have been perceived as a
hostile take-over attempts by Russia's Acron. In recent months, the biggest deal was the purchase of
shares in Synthos from minority shareholders when the company's majority owner Michal Solowow
decided to delist the firm - the deal's value was EUR 486mn.